Bell rings the changes

15 February 2008

Ian Bell is keen to string some good performances together

Ian Bell admitted “it was about time” England put in a big performance after they kept the one-day international series against New Zealand alive.

Bell top-scored with 73 as the tourists won the third game of the five-match series in Auckland to trail 2-1 overall.

“It’s about time really,” Bell said after England’s six-wicket victory. “It was like a final for us and I guess the next few games are as well. We’ve let ourselves down a little bit how we’ve started (the series).

“It was important we got things back on track and I think the guys did a pretty good job today.”

Bell added: “The next game is another final and hopefully we can put a performance together again.”

The Warwickshire batsman was controversially given out lbw when England were cruising on 138 for two, with television replays appearing to show he had got bat on ball.

“That’s what I was desperately disappointed about,” he said. “It was nice to spend some time out there.”

Bell was also full of praise for England’s bowlers, who restricted their hosts to 234 for nine off their 50 overs.

A rain delay meant the tourists were set a revised target of 229 off 47 overs.

Bell claimed Stuart Broad was "fantastic" © Getty Images

“The guys up front bowled really well,” Bell said. “I thought Broady (Stuart Broad) was fantastic, so to keep them to 230 was a good effort.

“We believe we can go out and win any time against New Zealand.”

Skipper Paul Collingwood, who revealed there had been a lot of behind-the-scenes discussions following the opening two defeats, said: “It was a fantastic win.

“People might say we should have bowled them out for less but we were happy with that kind of total on that type of wicket.

“People have been very critical of the bowlers in the last two performances. “Today, there was control, they were aggressive and got the ball in good areas.

“The Kevin Pietersen-Ian Bell partnership in he middle order there was fantastic. A 100-partnership at that stage was crucial for us.”

Collingwood singled out Broad, who took 3-32, for particular praise, saying: “He came out and put his hand up today. A lot of guys in that dressing room can be proud of themselves.”

Paul Collingwood hopes they have cured their run-out habits

Buy this photo

Collingwood also hopes England have cured their run-out blues, saying: “I thought I needed a telescopic bat at one point.”

Of the next match, he added: “We go down to Napier with confidence but we need a better performance than this, even.”

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori admitted his side had felt the heat from England’s attack.

“Today, England got on top of us and we just couldn’t get a roll until Jacob (Oram) and I got together but probably by then it was a little too late.”

Of England’s reply, he said: “The Bell-Pietersen partnership probably took the game away from us.We’ve got to come back hard.”

All-rounder Oram, who top scored with 88, said: “We were 20-30 runs short.

“The class players in this England team were not going to stay down for long.

“Now they’ve made it even harder for us, so it’s going to be a pretty close couple of games.”